Supporting the education and well-being of children who are looked-after: what is the role of the virtual school?

Helen Drew, Robin Banerjee
2018 European Journal of Psychology of Education  
The Children and Families Act (2014) placed a statutory responsibility on local authorities in the UK to establish a virtual school headteacher with the role of championing the education of all children looked-after within that authority. The current research was designed to illuminate how virtual schools are currently supporting educational outcomes for children looked-after, not only through educational interventions, but also through supporting broader psychological factors that might impact
more » ... on attainment such as attachment, relationships and mental health. Virtual school headteachers from 29 local authorities completed an online survey about the services they provided to three target groups-children looked-after, foster carers and schools-with a particular focus on the transition years from primary to secondary school, which have been identified as being a difficult time for children looked-after. Using inductive thematic analysis, four overarching themes to service provision were identified: enhanced learning opportunities, specific transition support, well-being and relationships, and raising awareness. Direct work, interprofessional working and the development of supportive environments, particularly guided by attachment theory, were identified as important areas of practice. Practice is discussed in relation to resilience and ecological systems theory and suggestions for future research are identified. order obtained through the courts (Children Act 1989). They may be placed into the care of another parent, foster carers (including relatives and friends), in residential care, in secure accommodation or with prospective adopters. Currently, three quarters of CLA are placed with foster carers, meaning they are cared for in a family-based setting (Department for Education [DfE] 2017a). The educational needs of this group of children have often received less attention than other aspects of care planning (Harker et al. 2004; Jackson 1989; Morgan 1999 ), yet the educational under-attainment and sometimes inadequate educational experiences of CLA has been well documented (Fletcher-Campbell 1998; Goddard 2000; Jackson 1988 Jackson , 1994 Jackson and Sachdev 2001) . As part of the response to raise the profile of education and improve attainment in England, a statutory obligation has been placed on local authorities to establish a 'virtual school' headteacher (VSH) to champion the education of CLA in their authority's care (Children and Families Act 2014). With a clear remit to improve educational outcomes by monitoring progress and working with partners to ensure the educational needs of CLA are better met, virtual schools (VS) are well placed to offer both direct and strategic support to foster positive educational outcomes for young people in the care system. There are large gaps, however, in our understanding of the diversity of current VS provision and particularly the extent to which such provision addresses the broader psychological factors likely to be affecting educational attainment in this group, such as mental health, attachment, peer relationships, socio-behavioural and emotional well-being. The present study aims to address these gaps, with a specific focus on if, to what extent and how VS are addressing such factors in their efforts to promote educational attainment in CLA, along with VS perceptions of effective provision, and facilitators to achieving this. We give particular attention to the transition years from primary to secondary school in England, encompassing the age range of 10 to 15 years, since this is a key vulnerability period for the development of sociobehavioural and socio-emotional problems (Rice et al. 2011; West et al. 2010 ) and over a third of CLA are currently within this age range (DfE 2017a, p. 5).
doi:10.1007/s10212-018-0374-0 fatcat:sy4c3ffaorhfdjarbqpuzlsd5q